The Demon Castle Wars - Castlevania
by Enalton418
Summary: A long forgotten ally, a hidden weapon, and over a century of planning. Finally, the body of Vlad the Impaler has been exposed. With the teachings of Jonathan Morris to guide him, Julius Belmont heads into Dracula's castle to defeat the Dark Lord once and for all. The full force of Dracula's army demand this encounter be unlike any of the past. This isn't a battle, it's a war.
1. Beginning

**The Demon Castle War -** **Chapter 1: Beginning**

 _The soul of Dracula is bound to a form mortal weapons will never scathe. His body perpetually reincarnates with the passage of time and death. But this is not a true immortality, for the clashing of souls may bring an end to him yet. Death comes with mortality at the cost of mortality._

He had heard such a prophecy before, though how many hundreds of years ago he wasn't sure. It sounded like nonsense at the time. Countless soldiers have raided Dracula's castle throughout the years. Some fought for glory, fame or fortune, yet all died as miserably as the rest. The sole champion standing among them was the Belmont's and their legendary weapon "Vampire Killer". It is an object to be truly feared by the demons lurking within this castle.

The Dark Lord's powers were vast and adaptable. To stand against him wielding a weapon of magic was to be disastrously outclassed. But vampire killer is unique. Rather than match the Count's power, it acts as a magic _canceler_. By ripping away the demons powers with every slash, the weapon reduces even the most fearful monsters to beasts of ordinary stature. Such an animal is no match for a trained human being. Thus is the genius behind such a weapon, whose power only answers to the blood of the Belmont line.

Facing the dark lord without the whip was preposterous. To propose matching his dark powers with one's own was insanity. But the tale gets more complicated.

In the mid 1800's Dracula spontaneously appeared earlier than anticipated. The Belmont's had been ill prepared for such an encounter and sent their warrior young and ill prepared. Rumor has it that he fell in love with a vampire within the castle and fell to her betrayal. Regardless of the rumors veracity, the Belmont was defeated and he left behind an era without a champion to wield the legendary whip. In that absence the Order of Ecclesia took to the challenge. How had the witches managed to destroy the Count? It was a question lost in time.

That was until Alucard stumbled across that alter hidden in the library.

It was a narrow corridor, scarcely more than two humans' width. At the end of the hall was a pitch black desk covered in speckles of blood and dust, giving the faint rectangular imprint of the book that was once hidden there. He checked the drawer and found several folded pages inside, some squished carelessly in crumbled balls.

Try as he may to unravel the crumbled papers, they were too old to be legible amidst the crinkles and tears. The folded pages were fortunately more legible. There they discussed an ancient king and a journey across Europe in search of a power to restore rule to his kingdom. Many of the letters twisted at odd angles diverging from the straight line one would expect while writing. It reminded him of a time he had tried writing without looking directly at the paper.

He continued reading through the letters until a particular passage grabbed his attention. It wasn't a note itself, but a quote circled and underlined by the messenger:

 _It was here among these people that I first heard mention of the Grimoire that bridged life and death. A book bound in human skin; written in blood. To possess such a book, much less read, would be unbearable if not for the ones I loved. This was why the organization had no interest in such an artifact as dark as thee._

Certainly, even a mere fragment from the legendary book could grant insight into the origins of Dracula's powers. To have a complete copy, would equate to a blueprint of his entire fortress.

"That girl did seem a little _too_ prepared for a mere witch" Alucard said. "But where could it be now?"

Just as he finished examining the alter a gust of fire flooded the room. Alucard leaped backwards from the chamber to escape the powerful attack. The scrapes of paper swirled into the wind around him and burned to ash.

"I knew someone had been snooping around the castle. I can't wait to see the joy on my Lord's face when he hears who I've found" spoke the intruder. From his dark garb and the affinity for magic Alucard deduced he was a Necromancer. He reached for the sheath on his belt but the mage quickly disappeared into the walls.

Alucard cursed at his misfortune. Dracula's armies would be searching for him now and his journey outside the castle was about to grow complicated.

* * *

There was too much chaos in the world for him to believe in a God as the priests did. There was too much evil; too much death. Yet certain events it seemed, could never have happened any other way.

Did he believe in fate? Julius had been pondering that question for a long time. As he waited silently in the bar, he decided right then and there that he did. He would need to for this insane scheme to work.

After many hours of quiet revelation, the masked guest finally entered the room. He was an elderly man, partially crippled with age and wearing a short velvet vest. The man noticed him immediately upon walking in.

"Good evening Julius, it's been a while" said Jonathan.

"Good to see you friend" Julius said, shaking his hand and allowing him to sit down. "I wish we could reunite on more pleasant circumstances"

"I've known this day would come ever since I first gave you that whip" Jonathan said, eyeing the weapon rolled at Julius's side.

"Yes you did, and that's not the only thing you've kept from me" Julius said.

"Secrets? I haven't kept any secrets from you Julius, you should know better after all the years we spent together" Jonathan said.

"You haven't used the whip since the day you left that castle" Julius said.

"Yes about that" Jonathon said. He raised a hand to gather the attention of the waiter.

"Don't dodge the subject Jonathon, I know you've see it. She caused me a lot of trouble in the past few months" Julius said.

"Dracula hasn't emerged in over fifty years. There hasn't been a need for the whip since then" Jonathon said.

"You also failed to mention the full restoration of its powers" Julius said. "Since only a true Belmont can wield the whip you were never able to completely contain the Dark Lords energy"

"That's why I had Charlotte. We've been over this before during your training" Jonathon said.

"And you didn't think there was a reason why?" Julius asked.

"You think I've deceived you but your wrong" Jonathon said. The waiter finally arrived with his drink. "What is it you think I've seen?"

"The tower of sorcery, deep in the castle's catacombs" Julius said. "You have no recollection?"

"I do not Julius I'm sorry" Jonathon said.

"Aye" Julius said. Laying back in his seat. "Then that changes things"

They sat in silence for several seconds before Julius started to chuckle.

"Then it seems there really IS something about Dracula's Castle that I know and you don't" Julius said.

"You've been there already?!" Jonathon said.

"Aye, I left mere hours after you gave me Vampire Killer" Julius said. "Relax though, I didn't go alone"

"Then I take it you've explored much of the damned place already" Jonathon said. His time in those hallways did not make for fond memories, though the events remained engraved in his mind as if they happened merely a few days ago.

"I've seen enough. We found a girl sleeping in a crystal chambers beneath the waterway. Well, more like hibernating. She's from the 19th century." Julius said.

Jonathon nearly spilled his drink. The 1800's? That would mean she had lied undiscovered by not only himself, but several other Belmont's who visited the castle. "You're sure of this?! Could it be a trick?" Jonathon said.

"Believe me. We went through a lot of trouble trying to find out. She's real, and also the reason everything's happening the way it is." Julius said.

"The whip hasn't been used in over fifty years, nearly a hundred if you only count the true Belmont's" Jonathon said. "But that's not enough time for the Dark Lord to reach his full power. Not normally anyway"

"That's why I thought it was intentional that you kept that whip locked up for so long" Julius said. "She's the key to all that, she's a witch who's been fueling his growth for over a century. What we see today is not only a reincarnation of Vlad himself, but the full scope of his power and his soul."

"And that means he's vulnerable" Jonathon said. His eyes grew wide with the realization.

"Aye" Julius said, sipping from his drink. "But I thought you knew all that"

"Julius, I now understand the importance of our meeting here today" Jonathon said. "You'll need more than help, you'll need an army" A large grin swept across his face. "Looks like I'm going back after all"

"Keep that on the down low will ya?" Julius said. "I don't want to see any nightcrawlers show up at my door before we've even set off"

"The girl, what's her name?" Jonathon asked.

"Carrie" Julius said. "Carrie Fernandez"

* * *

She had hoped she'd never have to set foot in this dungeon again. Deep into the bustling cities of London lay the headquarters of the magus organization. It was a place that once held her prisoner and her trust of the old farts inside hadn't strengthened since their last encounter. But she was going to need all the help she could get.

A woman with blonde hair and a scarlet uniform approaches as she enters.

"Go away Olga" Carrie said.

"Nice to see you too Carrie" Olga said. Her full name was Olga Belnades. She was a witch from a long line of magic users once rumored to be part of the Fernandez clan. This was impossible of course, as the entire clan (save one) was wiped out by Dracula's lackeys over a hundred years ago.

"His forces are strengthening far faster than I anticipated" Carrie said. "We need reinforcements now, and I don't have time for your flirty chats"

"Flirty?" Olga asked. "I can assure you I don't lean that way"

"Then shut up" Carrie said. She slammed open the doors of the audience room, interrupting the councils chat. It was a large room with wooden desks lined in a half circle similar to a government office.

"I am NOT here to play games" Carrie shouted. The audience grew silent. One wizard at the front by the name of Daniel, leapt from his chair to approach her.

"What in blazes do you think your…." Daniel began to say.

"One year! I've been here one year! You can't all really be that clueless can you?" Carrie said. She and Julius had tried, in vain, to gather the council's support a long time ago. They locked her up like a vampire since she had come directly from the castle. Physically, she was still in her early twenties, but being born over a century and a half ago didn't exactly scream "human" to them. Long story short, they held her captive for days and refused to take action despite the verification of her story.

"I don't care WHO you are. You have no place barging in like that!' Daniel said.

"Carrie, I was _trying_ to say I'd already spoken with the council on your behalf" Olga said.

"You did what!" Carrie said. She was rarely angry, but this was her job. She had one job. And that wasn't Olga's responsibility.

"We have already assigned an agent to investigate the situation" Daniel said. "There is a procedure to be followed here and those who ignore it are not welcome"

Two men in thick magic garb approached from the entrance. The atmosphere had grown incredibly quiet.

"Are armed guards really necessary?" Carrie said. Everyone is this room was a capable magic user, they should be able to handle themselves.

"Carrie, we need to go" Olga said.

These people weren't even considering sending aid. She was pissed, but violence wasn't persuasive in these kinds of situations. Carrie locked eyes with Daniel and reluctantly followed the guards out. Olga followed closely behind as they walked into the rainy streets. Cars zipped past the busy intersection.

"I knew you'd be angry if I asked so I didn't" Olga said. She pulled an umbrella from her purse to hold over Carrie's head but she shook it aside, pulling up the hood on her green hoodie instead.

"They're idiots, every one of them" Carrie said. She exhaled a long breath to try and calm down.

"It's not just that. There's a side of them you're not seeing" Olga said. Indeed Olga had worked closely with the organization for many years. But after the awkward situations brought about by Carrie's awakening, she left the club to work alongside warriors in the church. The church had a better track record for resisting the Count anyway.

"If Dracula destroys this city he won't pick out favorites. He'll destroy everything and everyone, including them." Carrie said. She had seen the destruction herself many times over, from both sides.

"Dracula's never been an issue for them before so why bother now? Besides Carrie, you terrify them in every way. They don't want to be within a thousand kilometers of you." Olga said.

"Me?" Carrie said. Daniel hadn't seemed scared when he talked back to her earlier.

"It can't be that hard to understand dear. If what you say is true" Olga said. "You conquered Dracula's castle when you were twelve. Then you grew up to marry the Count and lead a conquest nearly destroying all of Europe"

"There was a lot more to it than that" Carrie said. Indeed she had done as Olga suggested, but only to acquire enough power to separate Dracula's soul from the boy Malus. "Malus" Carrie said aloud. He had hopefully gone on to live a normal life. She had often found herself fantasizing about what his life might have been like. "It's not like I'm going to actually attack them" Carrie said. "People could die if we do nothing. People _will_ die"

"We understand that, they don't" Olga said. "They aren't hard to comprehend if you pretend to stop caring about other people"

"Maybe" Carrie said. She was a bit unwilling to admit that Olga was right.

"It's not the end of the world. I've spoken with some old friends of the clan and I think I found someone who can help" Olga said.

"We are gathering at the rendezvous point in two days. Whoever it is just make sure they aren't late" Carrie said.

"I don't think that will be a problem" Olga giggled, and turned down a different street.

Carrie paused. Her clothes had become soaked on the walk. It wasn't a new experience for her. She had grown comfortable in the rain during her life in America a century ago. Though she had originally been sent there to exterminate a splinter cell, it was one of the few times in her life that she had ever known peace. There was a home carved out of the base of a giant tree. Elof was there, an old friend and mentor, as were many other friends. She had gone to a dance with the red dress Suzan gave her.

She checked her magic pockets to ensure her belongings were still there. As hoped, there lay her twin melee rings and the dozen vials of holy water Julius left her. Nestled safely underneath was the Necronomicon, the book she had fought her entire life to assemble.

Her clan was killed when she was only a baby. Then they came for her step mother, and from there on she became a murderer herself. She lit fire to entire villages, slaughtering thousands within their homes. All in the hopes of restoring the Dark Lord's power for these very moments, and the creation of a weapon he could never anticipate. She should feel proud.

Yet here she was crying in the rain.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a review as it helps me develop my writing and motivates me to keep writing chapters.**

 **This story is the sequel to Midnight Blue, a crossover fic I wrote on Carrie's recovery from inside Draculas castle. Reading is optional to this story but you can find them on my profile if your interested.**


	2. Crystal Tears

This is what she wanted, wasn't it?

Carrie could see the smoke rising from miles away. The road was clear of traffic as she sped through on her motorcycle. No one was driving in or out.

She came to a halt just outside of town. It was quiet aside from the faint crackling of flame. The area looked like it'd been hit by a hurricane. Buildings lay flattened. Embers glowed in the dusty streets. There was nothing left.

"And this is only the beginning" Carrie spoke to no one. She'd seen destruction like this before during her time. All the progress, technology and advancements humanity had made since then meant nothing to these demonic creatures. The land was free from even the concept of magic, except perhaps the church. But if there was one here, it was gone.

She clicked the ignition back on her bike and slowly moved forward around the debris. It was easier this way; with no survivors. That meant there weren't any lose ends for her to deal with. She could accept the loss, and move on. Or did that make her a horrible person?

All she wanted was the death of Dracula. That's all she ever cared about. A year ago she'd have struggled to even imagine a world were that wasn't her life's purpose, her raison d'etre. But now, she wasn't so sure. And with her life's work so close to an end…..

Now was the worst time to doubt it.

* * *

"They've lost contact from another one" Jonathon said. He was working at his desk while listening to the news on a portable radio. "It's coming much stronger this time. No witnesses. No video footage. No communication" he said.

"The public will start to panic if this isn't dealt with soon" Julius said. "The conspiracy theorists will confuse it with nuclear war"

"He might be counting on it" Jonathon said.

"It makes it that much harder to find able soldiers" Julius said. Although the more he pondered the idea the less sure of himself he was. He'd have to be mindful of his own doubts in situations like this. He wanted to take the offensive, but wasn't so foolish as to do so alone.

"There are greater concerns in the geopolitical sphere" Jonathon said.

"Ignore them. Once the job is finished they can sort out the mess on their own" Julius said. He stood from his chair and stretched, but his grogginess refused to leave him. "I need to check on how the troops are doing" he said.

"We still need to pick up reinforcements from Louisville" Jonathon said.

"Yeah, I'll get to it in the afternoon" Julius said, and stepped out from the tent.

They set up camp just shy of a hundred miles from Dracula's castle. The mages he'd hired cast enough barriers to conceal them from the bulk of the dark lord's forces, but he struggled to relax so close to the place. Most of the soldiers here were veterans of war so he couldn't complain. This was different to him though. And where was Carrie? She should have been back by now.

He walked through the twists and turns of the trees until he found the tent he was looking for. It was long military tent with a raised wooden platform and two stoves (unlit) inside. Thirty people typically slept in here, most were outside at work. The man he was looking for sat at a desk covered in scrolls. He was a short and stocky fellow with a long red beard.

"How's the preparations Clovis? Please tell me you have some good news" Julius said.

"I'm preparing a training on Minotaurs this afternoon based on your specifications. But I must say I don't think a day's worth is enough time to cover all this." Clovis said.

"You aren't expected to master anything just yet" Julius said. "We've got another two dozen troops on the way later this evening, and hopefully a few hundred more coming from the church. I'll need your team to help bring them up to speed."

"It will be done sir" Clovis said.

"No no no" Julius said. He pulled up a chair next to the table. "At ease Clovis, I don't care much for the formalities. I need to know you're doing okay."

Clovis set down the scroll he was reading and leaned back in his chair. His nose grew scrunched as he stared back at his boss.

"To be frank. I'm not sure I want to go through with this. I think you need to up the payment" Clovis said.

"There it is" Julius said, oddly cheerfully. "That's good. You've started to realize the truth about what we're up against."

"Money is worthless if you never make it back alive. And from the looks of what you're planning I doubt you expect many of us to return at all." Clovis said. "Vampires? I'll be damned."

"There's more than that" Julius said. "Look at us here. We have what, a hundred men in this camp? With the type of fortune the Belmont's have, why wouldn't it be six hundred? A thousand? You think there aren't more able bodied workers waiting do whatever I tell them so long as they make a quick buck?"

"Of course there is" Clovis said.

"Exactly" Julius said. "And I can never hire a single one of them. Because if all you care about is money, then I'm not the highest bidder in this puzzle."

"You….think too well of me Julius" Clovis said. "You need a bond with these people. And that takes years, not weeks."

"You're in charge of your group. All I need is your support and I'll be fine." Julius said. "So I'll ask again, how are you? Are you ready for this?"

"You're too soft" Clovis said. "And you want me to go soft too"

"Not at all" Julius said. "I just need you to kill some vampires. Not because you're getting paid to do it, but because they are mother f**king vampires."

"Okay" Clovis said.

"Hmph" Julius said, standing up to leave. "I'll check back in the evening to observe the troops progress"

Clovis fought the urge to throw over his desk as Julius departed. He was right, he couldn't say no to this. But he was going to die. There's no way in hell he was going to ever walk out of that castle should he step inside. This felt different from what he'd seen before. His death felt certain, approaching like a ticking clock. And he didn't feel ready for it at all.

* * *

 _Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil._

"Amen" spoke the crowd in unison.

"They are prepared and awaiting your orders Commander Belnades" spoke the Bishop. He turned to Olga and motioned her towards the ledge overlooking 200 warriors of the tenth crusade.

"No they are not" Olga said. It'd taken weeks to navigate the Vatican's politics and convince them of the need to assemble these warriors. But she hadn't anticipated that they'd give her command over the Pope's personal army. "They're exorcists. They've never faced anything like the demons of that castle before. They'll have to be trained, and we are running out of time"

"Don't make light of Our Holinesses decision Miss Belnades" the Bishop said. "A mentor was required and the Lord sent you to us. He will provide everything you need to succeed if you only trust him"

"I do. We won't fail" Olga said. She really meant it too. "Move everyone into the transports, we need to get moving."

She'd already heard of entire towns being erased from the map. Dracula wasn't waiting for them, and their offensive still needed a lot of work. If only she could tell where he would attack next, perhaps they could send a resistance force. But that'd be impossible without intel from the inside.

Then it occurred to her.

She handed the Bishop a folded sheet of paper. "This is the location of the Belmont encampment, and here is the rendezvous point. Meet them there as soon as you can" Olga said.

"Why are you telling me this?" The Bishop said.

"Because I need to make a stop along the way. I'll catch up later"

* * *

The sky was turning red and the shadows long. Her motorcycle was running low on gas and Carrie would have to stop soon. She should probably find something to eat too, although she didn't want to stop. Her mind wandered as she drove.

Dracula's attacks were growing unpredictable. For his forces to mobilize so distant from the castle meant he either had powerful political allies, or that his monsters penetrated deep into the continent. It was likely a combination of both. That meant she'd need to be on her guard everywhere she went from now on.

She wondered if Julius had found himself able to rest. He was always more jolly than herself, and seemed to find relief in any situation. He was built for this his entire life, never straying from the path of the light. She could never be so carefree.

Perhaps she should have explored more of the new world before she embarked? Although they were running low on time as it was, and she had already done her fair share of traveling.

"Hmph" Carrie said. "Fair share. What a peculiar choice of words"

She was struggling not to overanalyze herself. These weren't the sort of things normal people ought to be thinking about. No she wasn't normal, but she ought to at least be sane shouldn't she be? Or is even that too much? And if that was too much, what was it worth asking for in life?

"What a godless word we live in" Carrie said. She pulled into a gas station. The store lights burned bright against the decaying sky.

"Hello?" Carrie said as she walked in the building. There wasn't anyone behind the counter.

"I'll leave if there's no one here!" Carrie said.

"It's not out of character for you to steal, why even ask?" came a girlish voice.

"Eleanor?" Carrie said. "You didn't kill the cashier did you?"

"Of course not" Eleanor said. "He's just….taking a nap" Carrie glanced over the counter to see the vampire hovering over an unconscious man. She was too short to be visible over the tabletop, but her size was deceiving relative to her actual age.

Carrie dashed around the desk to embrace her old friend.

"It's been so long" Carrie said. "I haven't changed my mind, but I'm glad you're here. At the end."

"The end, you say those words so frivolously my dear" Eleanor said. "It's never the end Carrie. I'm old enough to know"

"I…I don't know if there's anything left to say" Carrie said. "I've come such a long way. He feels so close to me now. I can feel his presence, glaring down at me. Judging me, as if he were one who could cast such judgment"

"Don't be like that Carrie. You had such conviction last I saw you." Eleanor said. "Dracula is so unlike you, he has something to fear"

"I'm a mess" Carrie said. "It doesn't make sense, why I'd feel this way. I can't explain it"

"Because you're human?" Eleanor said. Carrie waited for her to say more, her heart throbbing faster with every second of silence.

"I don't think I am" Carrie said.

Eleanor giggled. "Oh my Carrie you _are_ a mess. Of course you're human. And somewhat of an inspirational one should you come to realize it. It's been nearly a year since I last saw you and the first thing you do is start unloading yourself like I'm some sort of councilor."

"I'm sorry" Carrie said.

"No you're not" Eleanor said. "But I'm not here to argue with you Carrie. I'm here because for the first time in centuries I feel that Europe has become a safe place for my people"

"Safe?" Carrie said, puzzled. "Have you not been paying attention?"

"I have" Eleanor said. "And my people no longer have any reason to fear. We never kill our prey, so our feeding goes unnoticed by most. The only threats we had were that of a particular dark lord, whom is unlikely to survive the next full moon. And for that, I must grace you with my eternal gratitude" she curtsied as she spoke.

"You're not going to beg me to reconsider the deal?" Carrie said.

"Would you if I did?" Eleanor said. "A woman who said herself she has no regrets?"

"I wouldn't" Carrie said. "But I want to"

"You've always said that" Eleanor said.

By then the sun had fully set, and Carrie returned to her refill her bike without bothering to pay for it.

"Anyways, where _has_ that bird flown off to Carrie?" Eleanor said. "It's strange to see you traveling without him."

"Elof died, a few months ago." Carrie said, starting the engine.

"So is that what's changed?" Eleanor said. "That is unfortunate"

"No, what's changed is I started to fall in love in ways I shouldn't have" Carrie said. "I won't let it stop me, but it's not something I was prepared for"

"You?" Eleanor said, surprised. "Don't hate on the world too much Carrie. It's what most of us live for."

"Don't care" Carrie said, and sped off.

"Of course you do, foolish girl" Eleanor said, glad she was out of earshot. "But you will succeed regardless"

* * *

The sky grew black as the sun set. Soon it would be time.

Alucard gazed across the landscape from a rooftop. Berlin was a large city with a history of turmoil. Its citizens would be unusually susceptible to rumors and superstition should such dark forces begin mobilizing here. And if Alucard's intuition was right, they already had.

What he hadn't expected, was for a blonde woman in red to suddenly climb up next to him.

"Greetings black cat, it's been a while" Olga said.

"…black cat?" Alucard questioned.

"Did I stutter?" Olga said.

Alucard didn't respond.

Olga giggled. "So what are we looking at here? You seem to know what's up better than anyone."

"Now that the sun has set, any scouts sent by Dracula's legion will be on the prowl" Alucard said.

"And you know how to find them?" Olga said.

"I have an idea yes." Alucard said.

"And you were planning on taking on the entity of Dracula's army alone were you? And without me!" Olga pouted.

"Not exactly" Alucard said. "If you stop acting like you for a moment I'll explain"

To be continued…..

* * *

 **Hey everyone,**

 **I've decided to keep chapters short so I can release more often. If you prefer longer chapters or have any other suggestions feel free to let me know.**


	3. Unseen Entry

Clara held her hands over mouth to try and soften the sound of her breath. She hid underneath the kitchen cabinet as the adults argued around her. She had tried sneaking in to find some food for her friend but panicked when she heard the sound of footsteps and ran inside.

"Investments? Investments don't matter at all! We needed to leave years ago and we need to leave now!" said one of the voices.

"I can't just up and go! Have you any clue how hard I've worked to keep this family together! Maybe if you hadn't been sitting on your butt everyday you'd have noticed!"

"Are you insane? Did you see what happened in Georgia? You're going to get us killed!"

"I'm going to get us killed?"

There was the clang of something falling and the cupboard door suddenly flew open. Clara stared back at the angry eyes of a man garbed in white.

"Whoa, there's someone in here!" he said.

"Yes sure. And did you write gullible on the ceiling as well? I've had it with you trash" The footsteps grew fainter as the man suddenly grabbed her arm and yanked her out into the open. Her arm seared with pain as the fragile muscles refused to move.

"You see! I'm not nuts there's a girl here!" the man yelled. He jerked her up into the air like she were a doll.

"Put me down please!" Clara screamed.

"EEkk" came the voice from the other room. "Get her out get her out get her out!"

Clara's bones ached as she was tossed into the alleyway outside. She struggled to catch her breath again. Her chest heaved, but there was nothing inside her stomach to throw up.

She slowly picked herself up and walked out of the city, towards the stream. There was a hiding place amidst the tall grass she'd been using as shelter and was beginning to call it home.

"I'm sorry buddy, I'll try again tomorrow" she spoke to the puppy she had been hiding inside. It'd taken her a great deal of effort to hide him from the others. He was very quiet today and didn't get up from his blanket when she walked in as he usually did.

"Ouch" she yelped, and smacked her neck as though intuitively swatting an insect. Her hand came back with the faint tinge of red. Her bite marks were bleeding again.

"Alright, I've got to go wash up. So stay quiet until I come back you hear? I don't want the others to try and eat you again" she said. It was becoming difficult to stand but the riverside was only a dozen or so feet away.

The muddy bank was much softer to her skin that the hard cement of the inner city, and the soft beating of the creek was soothing to her wounds and the aching pain from her bleeding neck. She had tried to stop the bleeding weeks ago, but when all else failed it was better to just let it be and keep it clean.

The cool water felt so nice.

* * *

"Childen?" Olga asked. She quickened her pace to keep up with Alucard as he wedged through the tall grass.

"Yes" Alucard said. "Virgins are of the purest souls for harvest. Children are of the highest likelihood to be so, and their inexperience makes them easy prey"

"So the towns disappearing overnight, they aren't being toppled by his armies?" Olga said.

"No, forces have been at work in these cities for many months now" Alucard said. "But no one has been around to notice, nor care"

"Attack the vulnerable and business continues as usual without anyone batting an eye." Olga said.

"And the idealists fighting against him would never suspect humanity to do nothing as their neighbors cry for help" Alucard said. He paused for a moment before stepping out from the field. Olga was grateful to escape its confinement and walk in the open again, but she immediately pulled back in disgust as a putrid smell smacked across her like a wall.

"Humanity was never known for its compassion. Dracula lives by the darkness in our hearts and the cruelty of our souls" Alucard said. He didn't seem bothered by the stench, and for a moment Olga envied the vampiric blood that allowed him to remain so stoic.

The riverside was coated in the muddied tracks of reptile and humanoid footprints. In front of them was the wilted corpse of a child, her head half buried in the water. As Olga looked further she saw dozens of other such corpses scattered along the bank. Many of their legs and limbs ripped apart at odd angles like something had attempted to fillet them like fish.

"Why would they do something like this?" Olga said.

"This is but a side effect. The corpses left behind of those who had their virginity stolen from them, and couldn't transform" Alucard said. "We can expect many dozen times this have already turned within the city by now."

"Then there must be hundreds, if not thousands of them" Olga said, worrisome. It meant this wasn't a unique scenario, and that such horrors were likely spread throughout much of the continent. She shivered when she pictured what circumstances the children must have gone though, even without the presence of the dark lord.

"Indeed" Alucard said. "But I have considered that Dracula is unlikely to understand the amenities of modern infrastructure." He turned around and walked back into the tall grass. Despite the itching and the uneven ground, Olga was grateful to escape the toxic air as she followed him. She spoke a prayer for the victims as she walked.

* * *

The encampment was growing too large. It wasn't that Julius thought he had too _many_ soldiers, they needed all the help they could get. But he was fearful that having too many people in one place made them more likely to draw attention and more vulnerable to being flanked. So he had the primary forces split into six groups about a mile apart from one another, and he divided Clovis's squad evenly among them.

Clovis wasn't happy about that. Not only were his people divided, but it meant having to run between the six camps as part of his daily routine. Radio helped, but it wasn't a perfect system. That was okay though. Apart from Julius, Jonathon, Carrie, Olga, and Alucard, Clovis's squad were the only trained soldiers with detailed knowledge of Dracula's forces.

"I'm concerned we're moving too fast" Julius said, speaking to Jonathon in his quarters.

"We could push back our first assault by another two weeks" Jonathon said. "The longer we wait the more likely others are to join the fight as well"

"And the more likely panic will rise among the population, which fuels his dark power" Julius said. "Dracula feeds on fear" He tapped his fingers impatiently along the side of his chair.

"Charlotte would have known what to do were she still here" Jonathon said. "She was always better at this sort of thing. Belmont's aren't meant to work in groups"

"I need to speak to Carrie. She'd know about magic like that" Julius said.

"Carrie? I'm surprised you haven't asked her already. She's been planning this longer than either of us have put together." Jonathon said.

"It's indeed worrying me that she's taking so long to get here. She's so stubborn I doubt she'll ever agree to carry a radio or a phone" Julius said.

"What are you going on about? If you want to talk to her just do it in person" Jonathon said.

"Yeah that'd be great" Julius said. "I appreciate the sarcasm there"

"What do you mean sarcasm? Carrie arrived here two days ago" Jonathon said, puzzled.

"She WHAT!" Julius bellowed, leaping from his chair. "Well where the hell is she!?"

"She set up a tent on the north side of Vortex camp" Jonathon said. "Small thing too"

Julius left Jonathon behind without saying another word. He feared if he opened his mouth nothing good would come of it. The thought was fleeting.

"How could she do this?" Julius said, as he walked through the forest with heavy steps. He'd known her to play stupid games like this before, but _now_ of all times? When he's struggling to catch an army up to speed and in desperate need of trained professionals to teach them? All this time he could have had two days' worth of help. Two days he's lost. Has she no idea that people are dying in that time? Or does she just not care?

It was quickly apparent to him which tent was hers. It was some distance away from the rest of the camp in a small circle of birch trees. It certainly was small, and as he found he couldn't fully stand when he tore open the cloth and stepped inside.

His built up frustration extinguished the second he saw her.

"I don't recall hearing a knock, nor my saying you could come in" Carrie said. She was kneeling in front of a small cauldron and an open book. "That's pretty rude"

"Don't, even get me started on rude Carrie." Julius said. "We've got a lot of work to do"

" _I've_ got a lot of work to do too you know" Carrie said. Julius noticed a glimmer as she stuffed something inside her pouch and blow out the fire beneath her cauldron.

"His forces are already on the move. And I have over 300 soldiers who aren't yet prepared to fight" Julius said.

"I'm not interested in teaching your lackeys. They're a distraction, nothing more" Carrie said.

"We can't do this without them!" Julius said.

"I never said we could" Carrie said.

"Oh right, you speak in literal terms" Julius said. "Alright, then as the heir to the Belmont throne and commander of this army I'm ordering you to come with me"

"You can't tell me what to do" Carrie said. She smiled, "But if it will ease your mind I suppose I could use a break." She stepped up from her seat, her head barely clear of the roof as she does so.

They walk outside into the cold air. Many of the troops are finishing their evening meals or preparing for bed, but Julius stops by a campfire to call everyone to attention.

"This is Steve, he's the lieutenant of this squadron. Steve, Carrie Fernandez" Julius said.

The soldier in green fatigues dipped his head and responded "It's an honor miss".

"Steve's squad has been studying copies of the rune texts retrieved from Ecclesia, they'll be specializing in magus support so keep an eye out for them. And here is John, Karl, Trevor, David, and William" Julius said, walking in front of each of them.

"That's nice" Carrie said.

"And over here" Julius said, moving to the other side of the fire where a tall man with a grey beard was washing dishes. "This is Agil, he's our arms specialist. We're grateful to have him"

"I suppose" Carrie said.

"And here" Julius said. He started walking towards another encampment when Carrie grabbed his arm.

"Stop Julius, you're just hurting yourself" Carrie said. "I'm sure they'll do fine"

"It's not them I'm concerned about" Julius said. "We need to work together, and you've been here two days and haven't met anyone yet. You haven't seen the drills, you don't know the commands, or…"

"Julius I've been here six days, and that doesn't matter. If it did I'd have done it already" Carrie said. She let go of his arm and pointed towards a group of people walking across the eastern field. "Those over there, do you know what their names are?"

"Aye" Julius said. "Sarah, Daniel, Jonas, Blake and the short one's Kyle"

"Now you know what their names _really_ are?" Carrie said. "Dead, dead, dead, dead, and dead."

Julius glared back at her. "You don't know that" he said.

"I don't need to. That's not the point" Carrie said, and walked back to her tent alone, leaving a restless and exhausted Julius behind.

* * *

"Ick, do you have a thing for foul places Alucard? I bet you get this from your father" Olga said, trying to hold her nose as they walk through the city's sewer system.

"The water main won't smell the same. But we needed a shortcut to get us there" Alucard said. He wasn't particularly enjoying himself either.

"Alright, but you definitely owe me one" Olga said. She'd probably be unable to smell anything else for days. She wondered if Dracula's castle would smell anything like this. It hadn't much of a stench when she and Alucard visited the place before, but it was scarcely habituated at the time and had only recently been resurrected. "Yeah, I bet vampires have trashed the place by now"

"Hush, we are almost there" Alucard said. He grasped a slimy looking valve and turned it counter-clockwise. The wheel screeched as the rust was blown apart and the hinges swung open; inside was a cleaner looking corridor with an even longer looking trail of pipes. Alucard flicked on an electric flashlight to illuminate the the path.

"Say Alucard" Olga said. "Why do you think Dracula would target a city like Berlin? It's hundreds of miles away from his castle, and there are plenty of city epicenters closer than this."

"He tried waging war against all of Europe once, and it ended poorly for him" Alucard said. "The girl aside, I think he realizes that the more upfront his attacks are the more enemies he makes."

"Then he must have vampires across most of the continent by now" Olga said.

"Most likely, but our presence here could try to amend some of that" Alucard said. "I hope"

"So you think you've got it all figured out huh?" Olga said.

"I think it'd be disingenuous to say so, but I also think it'd be wrong not to try" Alucard said. He paused as they came across a large pipe crossing between the path and walls. "This is it" he said.

"It's true that I was recently ordained by the church, but I've lived most of my life as a magus" Olga said.

"You doubt your own abilities?" Alucard said.

"Doubt is a strong word" Olga said, leaning down next to the structure. "But this is a new experience for me" She opened her bag and lit a clump of sage beneath the pipe and began to pray silently. As she did so, a soft glow began to emanate from her palms and she slammed her hands upon the walls of the structure.

 _Of the body, and the blood. Amen_

…and then silence.

"Did it work?" Alucard said.

"I'm sure it did, but we won't know right away. It'll take time for the holy water to move through the system" Olga said.

"Then we'll go for now and return if we need to" Alucard said. He reached up and slid down a ladder from the ceiling. As he and Olga climbed up, a roar of dismay became increasingly audible from the world above. The full extent of that chaos became apparent with the rush of heat they felt upon lifting the sewer cap.

Dozens of the surrounding buildings were on fire. Siren's blazed. Children screamed. And soaring above were hundreds of ghastly figures flapping through the dark on velvety wings.

"They're retreating" Olga said.

"To the only place there is to retreat to" Alucard said. "Now is the time to reunite with the others"

* * *

It started with a soft boom in the distance, like the distant sound of thunder. The waxing moon grew faint and the sky grew black without the twinkling of stars. The beating of wings once soft grew into a roar until the sky was filled with the deafening demonic cries of death, guided by the will of the one true Lord of Darkness.

The vampires were returning home.

"What should we do!" came an anonymous cry within the camp. The soldiers had been stirred from their bunks and stood ready at attention amidst the monumental threat. They knew that the creatures were stronger, and faster than they were. They knew it would take coordination, skill, and a little luck to take one of the creatures down. But the scale of the threat. The vastness of the dark army, could never be communicated so. The creatures blocked out the heavens, and consumed the sky as far as the eye could see.

"Hmph, I'm not impressed" Carrie said, stepping into the crowd amongst the other soldiers now clustered along the forest edge. None of them were brave enough to wander out into the open field lest they be seen and swept away by any of the thousands of monsters soaring above.

Julius and Jonathon were the last to emerge from their tents. They had known what was transpiring the moment the first trembles could be heard. Whatever time they thought they had left to plan had finally run out.

"I want everyone to meet me out in the field. Now!" Julius commanded. He grabbed five men and ordered them to relay his order to the other camps.

The troops quickly marched into the field and got into formation as Carrie wandered back to her tent by herself. She ripped open the canvass without caution, knowing she'd never need it again, and uncovered the chest she'd kept hidden inside.

The locks clicked open as she released the compression spell and watched the corners grow three times in length. Swinging it open she unhooked her twin Hikari rings, the very same tools she had used in her fight against the Count over one hundred years ago. Underneath them and layers of protective robes she drew the Necronomicon; the book of the dead, and the blueprint to Dracula's soul.

But she set those aside for now. First she'd need to change.

She shoved aside the books and papers she had accumulated in her quarters and laid out the product of her work over the last six days. A short radiant blue robe, sewn and extended from the dress she had worn during her legacy of darkness. Within and between the fabrics she had sewn the crystalline fragments of soul gems she had retrieved from the diadem and Hakuba Shrine. She quickly garbed the dress and snapped over it a tight leather brace to hold her gear and the materials together.

With her Hikari rings secured over her gauntlets and the Necronomicon in hand, she took a deep breath and stepped outside.

* * *

"THIS" Julius bellowed towards the crowd. "THIS is the product of nightmares. The bumps that scare our children in the night. The shadows that made us jump in the light of day. They make a mockery of our lives and slither among our peers as though they're mere toys ready to bend to their will with the push of a button. They laugh at us from the sky as though we are a joke! Is that what you are? Is that what you've become?!"

"NO" chanted the crowd.

"They have wings so they can fly away like cowards! I haven't the need for such things do you?" Julius yelled.

"NO" chanted the crowd.

"Of course we don't! Because we are beyond fear. We are what DEMONS FEAR! We are the products of DEMONS NIGHTMARES, we are the knights that make DEMONS CRY. They are afraid and they should be." Julius yelled. "And friends. I am not afraid. Because I remember the millions who came before me DREAMING about this day. Wishing they could be here like you and I. And it is a great honor to know that I was among those who won the lottery of a lifetime in being able to stand before you all."

Julius paced back and forth from the front aisle. He noticed Carrie approaching from the corner of his eye, but decided it best to ignore her for now. She wasn't what the troops needed this time.

"And for the rest of our lives we will go on to tell our ancestors about the day we brought DEATH TO DRACULA!" Julius yelled.

"DEATH TO DRACULA!" chanted the crowd. "DEATH TO DRACULA!"

"Death to Dracula!" yelled Carrie. And she threw the object in her hands up towards the sky with a beam of magical light. The creatures soaring above swirled around to grab it.

Suddenly, the sky burns with an explosion of blue flame. The withered corpses of fallen vampires rain upon the crowd as well as the crinkled black ashes of paper and human skin.

And thus begins the Demon Castle War.


	4. Bloody Tears

"Dracula!" Carmilla cried as she rushed into the throne room. "They're coming!"

"Excellent. Pull our troops back from the forest and let them through" Dracula said.

"But sir!" Carmilla cried. Never in her life had she been genuinely afraid as she was now. "I've heard reports of their forces, they are at least five hundred strong! And not of ordinary men!"

"This was an inevitable outcome Carmilla. Do not let your failure in Japan tempt you astray here. They will come, and they will die just as all adventures have before them" Dracula said. His cold callous demeanor sent a shiver down Carmella's spine. Not out of disgust, but of trepidation. He was _arrogant_ and overconfident despite the resolve of those plotting against him. Had he the foresight they never should have arrived at this situation in the first place.

She'd bet everything she had on the dark lords victory. Her life, her immortality, her humanity, her morality. He was supposed to be a promise. A never-ending cycle of death and rebirth that could only lead to victory, no matter how long she needed to wait for it.

Now she didn't feel so sure.

"I didn't _fail_ in Japan" Carmilla said with a clenched fist. "I absorbed the magical energy from the shrines and fed them straight to you! I gave you power, a nations worth!"

"Losing the diadem and the Necronomicon in the process" Dracula said. "I'm not so old as to forget such details easily. Now leave me to my own biddings and prepare our defenses"

"Yes sir" Carmilla saluted. She was going to fix this. If Dracula couldn't be trusted she'd do so herself. _Whatever_ it takes.

* * *

The legions in the sky were thinning. The air was bursting with light and the crackle of thunder. Any pedestrian out and about would have confused it with thunder. But Alucard knew better.

His foot dropped further on the peddle, and the engine of the car roared in response.

"We're too late" Olga said. She shifted forward in her seat, watching the hordes of monsters soaring miles ahead and sink into the depths of Dracula's Castle.

"Not quite" Alucard said. He reached behind his seat with one hand and handed her a pair of binoculars. Olga struggled to hold them steady amidst the bouncing of the car. In just those few seconds she could already feel the onset of motion sickness coming on.

*BOOM* came another crackle of light shooting up from the ground. A space in the demonic horde parted but continued its path unabated.

"They're not fighting back" Olga said, setting down the binoculars.

"Vampires of that sort aren't of much use to the dark lord" Alucard said. "He's never been fond of turning large numbers of people. I doubt he even granted them the luxury of resurrection"

"He's using them as a meat shield?" Olga said, tapping her lips as she thought. "Julius must have realized the same by now"

The castle grew steadily closer as they approached.

* * *

Julius resisted the urge to cover his ears as the mages sent another burst of mana up into the sky. If they didn't want to fight back it was fine with him. He'd eliminate as many as he could before the spilling of human blood.

Quite obviously, they were walking into a trap. Julius had hoped that the dark lord would send some of his forces out from beyond the castle walls to face them, but he must have recognized the advantage that gave them. Even so, he didn't hurry his forces along their march towards the castle. It was after one in the morning and only a few hours away from first light. At their current pace, they'd arrive just in time.

"The soldiers will be tired by the time we arrive" Jonathon said. "None of us have slept tonight"

"We either fight tired or we fight in the dark" Julius said.

The true vampires of Dracula's castle wouldn't die in direct sunlight, but many of their lackeys and lesser beings would. The vampires flapping around them were such things. Humans, transformed in hast with mediocre strength. Creatures like that were more beast than demon.

"I think we should split up. One Belmont is more than enough, and they'll likely try to attack our flank" Jonathon said.

"Aye" Julius said. Jonathon stepped around him to address the soldiers but Julius grabbed his shoulder without turning around. "Be careful, my friend" he said, and the old vampire hunter broke off.

Julius waited for a break in the mages bombardment before calling "Clovis, come here!"

The bearded man came rushing forward. "Yes sir" he said.

"Alucard and Miss Belnades haven't returned yet, I want you send a group to our flank to find them and bring them to me as soon as they do. If they don't make it back before sunrise, you're to take command of the western front." Julius said.

"Understood" Clovis saluted and disappeared to carry out his orders.

Julius fidgeted in his coat until he found his pocket watch. It wasn't one of his magical tools used to slow time, but an ordinary brass clock. It was a quarter to two in the morning. By his estimate they were about five miles from the castle gates. They'd need to slow pace again, or find somewhere to take refuge.

He wished Carrie were here, or even Olga, but he couldn't keep either of them near, less he incidentally harm them with the magic canceling powers of his whip. Several Belmont's before him were able to adapt to such things, but he feared for the unpredictability of this castle. This wasn't like before.

Something stirred from the corner of his eye. Julius quickly raised a hand to halt the advance of his troops. The forest was dark except for the periodic flicker of light as the mages behind him cracked lightning towards the sky. Each flicker revealed shadows and branches drifting in the subtle wind, but that wasn't what caught his attention. Up ahead he could faintly make out the outline of something short and unnaturally straight. At first he mistook it for a lantern whose light had burnt out, but he had no recollection of such structures when he last walked these woods.

Julius unhooked Vampire Killer from his belt and softened his steps as he drew forward. The structure didn't move as he approached and the outline grew more defined. It reminded him of being spooked in forests like this when he was a child. During that time, the "monsters" would always change shape into something harmless as he came close. But this structure, this "monster" didn't change.

His ears bled with the illuminating boom as he instantaneously saw the shriveled head impaled atop a spike sticking straight up from the ground. With the next spark of lightning he saw more waiting in the path ahead. Hundreds more. Some with entire bodies pierced into the air, heads still attached.

"We haven't got a choice, we have to push forward" Julius said quietly. He'd chosen most of these soldiers himself, he must trust them. But if he did why did he need to convince himself so?

"ALRIGHT!" Julius said, his voice transforming into a yell. "Dracula will die tonight!"

His orders disseminated amongst the troops, and the army marched forward at a hastened pace.

* * *

Carrie walked quietly with her hood up. She was near the middle of the central forces where Julius hopefully marched not too far ahead. They'd suddenly quickened their pace and it was soon apparent as to why.

This type of scenery wasn't new to her, but she could understand why Julius would choose to move the way he did. Most of these people hadn't come to terms with their upcoming death yet, and Julius's stubborn insistence on instilling hope could become a liability should that hope begin to wilt. He was a true leader and a miracle among the Belmont's. Reinhardt? Jonathon? Trevor? None of them had the compassion nor the charisma to lead an army to their end like this. She prayed Julius wouldn't take his ideology serious enough to get himself hurt. Although such a fate was perhaps destined to occur. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was the death of the Dark Lord.

A tear dropped onto her boot as she walked.

She paused suddenly. The soldiers jumped to step around her but didn't bother to say a word. It was quiet. The sky was filled nothing but stars and the eerie crackle of magical artillery had finally halted.

"It's beautiful" Carrie said. She caught the terrified glimpse of one of the men marching forward. He was likely still fixated on the impaled bodies surrounding them. She let out a long breath. "It's okay if you see me as a monster. You wouldn't be the first" she said, but the man was already far ahead.

Carrie broke out of the formation and found a tree with low handing branches she could climb. The night air was colder from the peak, and the wind blew stronger. The castle was larger than she remembered from her time. It loomed over them like a mountain, still a few miles away but so enormous it seemed as though she could reach out and touch its walls. The thought reminded her of her past and what that stone really felt like; cold like ice, and rough as sandpaper.

There was nothing else so far as the eye could see. If any of Dracula's forces waited for them in the forest they were taking care to mask their presence. Carrie closed her eyes, and opened them again. Her red eyes glowed in the night with her ignited powers, the true nature of the magic of the Fernandez clan.

The air became filled with specks of golden dust, flowing about the environment without regard for wind or walls. The specks gathered in a tornado around each of the soldiers and glowed especially bright around the mages. Each piece reflected an echo of the magical currents flowing between all things. A great current flowed in the air high above them like a lake. Tentacles spread out from all directions around the castle, gathering dark energy from all the world and directing it towards its epicenter, sitting high atop the throne. One such branch flowing east glowed noticeably brighter than all the rest. Were Carrie to follow it for thousands of miles she'd no doubt it would lead directly to Hakuba Shrine.

But that wasn't all, for even the dead still cast the faintest echo of life. The bodies of the impaled spread vast along about the castles exterior. The golden fragments weaved together like a fabric, masking everything underneath. If there were nightmares hiding within the trees, Carrie could never distinguish them from the noise. Which was strange.

Carrie was no stranger to death, and she'd had a lifetime to practice and hone her powers with the guidance of the Necronomicon. The dead did indeed give off such a presence, but it was always dim in comparison to the living. Unless…..

Carrie gulped with the realization. Most of the bodies below were still alive.

Carrie leapt down from the tree, using magic to soften her landing. Most of the soldiers were fixated on the path ahead of them, so long as they continued to do so they shouldn't notice the torment of the dying. Julius was what concerned her the most. If he knew he'd try to save them, or command the soldiers to end their lives quickly. It'd crush their morale.

"No" Carrie said. She sped up to the front of the line until she found Julius.

"Hey" Carrie said. "You need a plan, what's your plan?"

"We've split into three groups, our forces are headed towards the main gate. Hopefully that'll force our enemy to reveal themselves, and we'll hold out long enough for reinforcements to plan accordingly." Julius said.

"That's it? That's your brilliant plan?" Carrie said with fury in her voice. She hoped she wasn't overdoing it.

"Aye" Julius said. Which caught Carrie off guard, she hadn't expected such a simple answer. "And what will you do? It's clear you don't plan on giving orders nor following them. The time for games is over, this is real"

"Yes" Carrie said softly. It was oddly mature of Julius to act this way. The stress of the upcoming battle was likely getting to him. The man she'd known for all these months was gone beneath that hard armor he'd wrapped himself with. "I've detected a field around the castle's exterior that I think will cause the soldiers to hallucinate. They won't see things that aren't there, but things may seem more terrifying than they truly are."

"That's odd, none of the other mages reported anything like that" Julius said.

"I'm not like other mages" Carrie said.

"Indeed" Julius said, staring deep into her red eyes. "I'll spread the word."

The real world was a dark place. Too dark for Carrie to ever emerge as a champion of the light again. But there was still hope for Julius and the others. And still hope of a second chance for the next incarnation of Dracula. She needed to preserve that light, and ignorance was the only way to bliss. Placebos helped too.

"Good, I'm going to scout ahead then. Maybe I'll trip some of those traps you're waiting for" Carrie said, and turned around. She felt a tug on her arm.

"I know I can't stop you this time. But come back alive, and be careful okay?" Julius said.

Carrie forced herself to smile and said "Whatever awaits, I have no regrets".

* * *

A fog shrouded the landscape and Julius soon lost sight of Carrie as she drifted ahead.

"Commander!" came a familiar voice behind him.

"You've finally returned! Olga" Julius said. He was unsurprised to see that Alucard wasn't with her. "Have you heard word from Alucard?"

"He's here, there's something he felt he needed to do inside the castle so he rushed off" Olga said. She handed him a small stone as she spoke. "He's not one for technology, but he left this to keep in touch."

Julius stuffed the artifact inside his trench coat. One more thing to carry wouldn't kill him, but it was inconvenient to have to carry so many different modes of communication. "Very well" Julius said. "I need you to take charge of the western front. Clovis is over there right now."

"With the Bishop?" Olga said. "Oh that can't be good."

"He's read through most of the Belmont scrolls and has some of the Ecclesian artifacts. We need someone like that on all fronts" Julius said. "I'm glad to see you're okay Olga, stay safe"

Olga paused for a moment. She acknowledged the situation and left without any backtalk. It felt odd seeing Olga behave this way, like it were out of character for her.

Julius struggled to shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen.


	5. Ruined Castle Corridor

Blood sprayed from the human's neck as Carrie slashed its throat. The man gurgled as fluid filled his lungs and he struggled to breath against the long pike impaling his stomach. He should have been grateful for a quick end to his otherwise arduous suffering but the instinct to live was hard to resist, even at the end.

Carrie pumped magic through her body to quicken her speed and she raced about the foggy landscape, using her mystic eyes to detect and kill any of the impaled who remained alive. She didn't need to kill all of them to undo the shroud clouding her vision, but it was still a lot of work for one person. Getting the others involved wasn't an option for her.

She suddenly stopped as a dark figure halted her path. "What do you want Alucard?" Carrie said.

"You're trying to kill them before Julius notices aren't you?" Alucard said.

"What I do isn't any of your business" Carrie said.

"We are in a war aren't we? So it'd say what you do absolutely is my business" Alucard said. "And I think you know that too. You're just proving me right"

Carrie felt her chest tighten as the half-breed spoke. She began tracking the rhythm of her breaths and breathing in sequence to keep her stress levels down. When she felt she collected herself she said, "They're using the bodies to mask my vision. If I'm blind we can't track their movements"

"There's no one here Carrie. There never was. What movements are you waiting to see?" Alucard said, stepping closer. "Did you think that movements beyond the castle walls would be relevant once we are inside? We'll be constantly fighting at our flank once we are in there. Dracula has no reason to fight us out here where he stands at a disadvantage"

"You can't know that for sure" Carrie said.

"I can, because it's impacting your behavior" Alucard said. "Or did you think he was trying to hurt the feelings of a few hundred human soldiers? Bah, he doesn't care about them"

Carrie turned back to the castle. The main gate laid just a few hundred feet away, clear of monsters or anything obstructing the path. Not even a bone pillar lay on the walls.

"We've arrived" Carrie said. "I almost forgot to notice"

"Dracula will focus his primary forces on the four of us Carrie. Which is why I thought I'd take a detour down the catacombs" Alucard. "If you'd prefer to join me, I'd accept your request"

"Thanks" Carrie said. "But no thanks. I'm not leaving them alone"

"I didn't think you would" Alucard said. "But I wanted you to hear yourself say it"

Carrie stared in silence as he vanished into the foggy landscape. "Well dang" Carrie said, far too late to respond.

* * *

Julius heard a soft boom on the path ahead. To him it was like an audible confirmation that the spring on the trap had sprung. He held his whip at the ready.

A single figure emerged on the road ahead, but Julius quickly recognized it as belonging to Carrie Fernandez.

"The gates are opening. I think he's expecting you" Carrie said.

"Get behind me Carrie, and watch our flank" Julius ordered. He tried to ignore her awful attempt at humor.

"Hmph" Carrie pouted, but she did as he asked.

This wasn't the first time Julius had set foot on this wooden walkway. Last time he was accompanied by a lone vampire hunter like himself. Those were the days he first met Carrie, the days when they found her lying beneath the castle in a deep slumber. The castle was mostly empty then with only a handful of monsters scattered about its walls. This time would be different. No Belmont had ever faced Dracula at his full strength before. It was possible that they'd encounter creatures who escaped mention in the texts, or that Dracula's forces had acquired new attributes. Could they have overcome some of their weaknesses? Julius prayed not.

"FORWARD!" Julius shouted. He sprinted inside with over two hundred soldiers not far behind him.

The entryway was enormous and lined with pillars on either side. The stone columns towered above them but the dim lighting obscured the ceiling from their view. Julius remembered his first time inside the castle and feared what may be lurking on the ceiling.

"Caster's here now!" Julius ordered. Four mages rushed forward and shot beams of orange light towards each corner of the room. The ceiling was tall but it was bare. In fact the entire room was empty.

"Keep those lights bright and stay behind the others where it's safe" Julius said. He didn't like this, did they want him to move deeper into the castle?

"The walls are moving!" a soldier cried behind him.

"Build a perimeter and regroup!" Julius shouted. The floor around them burst with iridescent light as the soldiers threw holy water about them.

The gate behind them suddenly snapped shut.

"Curses" Julius said. "This is happening too fast." Look as he may, he couldn't see anything moving along the walls. Was this the barrier Carrie had mentioned earlier? If so he could ignore it. And there was a bigger concern. He reached to his coat and called on the hand radio.

"Olga, the gates shut behind us. You remember the back entrance yes? Meet us at the castle center." Julius said. "Jonathon, keep your forces behind us and cover us if we need to escape. I think I remember how to break the locks on that blasted door!"

He paused for a second awaiting their confirmation, but he heard nothing.

"Olga? Jonathon? Do either of you read this?" Julius said, but he could only hear static. "Jonathon? Do you copy? Olga? Do you copy?" Julius repeated. They're not dead. Please don't be dead.

"Alright then. Looks like it's just us" Julius said. "Here we come. You afraid vampires?"

"Not particularly, no" came a reply. "There is hesitation in your voice. Perhaps if you'd had more time to grow you'd be better at hiding it."

Julius searched around him but he couldn't hear where the voice was coming from. It was as though it was echoing directly in their ears, without a physical origin.

"You sound like you're trying to imitate a movie character" the voice said. "Let the adults handle this"

The lights went out. Julius heard a scream.

"Get the bloody lights back on!" Julius yelled. As he spoke four more orange lights crackled into the air. The entire army was surrounded by axe armors.

"FIRE!" Julius screamed. The axe armor crumbled to pieces as the soldiers open fired with blessed silver ammunition. Two dozen werewolves raced from behind the fallen pieces and attempted to leap over the flaming holy water surrounding them. "Bayonets Up" Julius said, and the werewolves fell onto pointed bayonets.

The floor shook as minotaur's raced towards them from the opposite end of the hall. Their bodies slammed to the ground as they were ripped to shreds by silver bullets, but one of the red beasts had come close enough to throw his axe their direction.

Carrie leapt forward and pulled a long staff from her compressed pouch. The staff was golden with a crested top and several soul gems decorating the inside. As it hummed to life, crystal formations spontaneously erupted from the ground. The axe slammed against them and bounced harmlessly to the floor.

The remaining minotaurs and werewolves drew back, as a flock of harpies, medusa heads, and dolls flew in from above. One of the dolls sparked with an electric shock that reacted with the crystal shields produced seconds before. They exploded, and Julius scarcely ducked in time to escape the shrapnel. Those behind him were not so fortunate.

"We can't stay bundled together here. But we can't face those creatures without cover" Julius said. He'd known that Carrie could produce crystals with Actriss's staff, but he'd never inquired about the extent of those powers. "Carrie" he shouted. "Can you change the landscape with those crystals to give us some cover?"

As she nodded, the entire cavern suddenly sparkled with color as crystals of varying size and shape sprouted from the walls, the columns, and the floor. Julius tossed several axes into the air and dove between a pair of crystalline structures to engage a pair of minotaurs.

* * *

"You're sure about this Olga?" the Bishop said, he was struggling to climb the rope extending over the walls of Dracula's castle.

"Shhhh, be quiet" Olga said. It was a stupid question to ask. She wasn't sure about anything she was doing, but doubting herself at this hour was the least productive thing she could do. Well, besides some other things. Okay, sure there _were_ plenty of less productive ways to spend her time.

"Jonathon's forces are in position" Clovis said from the top of the wall. Olga pulled herself up over the wall with one last tug. It wasn't particularly difficult for her, although she would normally have used magic to speed up the process.

She pulled out Alucard's binoculars to check the exterior. Jonathon's army was heading eastward, just past the castle gate. They'd marched one full rotation around the castle by now, but it didn't look like any of Dracula's forces had taken notice. She hadn't encountered anything herself either. Alucard had already split off to venture alone. It was possible that he was trying to draw away some of the enemy attacks. If that were true, then Dracula would focus most of his remaining attention on Vampire Killer and Carrie.

Olga slipped the binoculars back into a pouch on her belt and unfolded the castle map she and Alucard had made months ago while scouting the castle. They couldn't create a complete version, but they had the general layout. At their westward position, the tower immediately before them would lead into the Chapel. The name was hypocrisy, as there was nothing holy about the place. It was a poor attempt at humor on the part of Dracula, to make mockery of God. But she had a bishop, and an entire army of priests on _her_ side.

"Julius, Jonathon do you hear me?" Olga said over the radio. "I've got an idea."

She waited for a response. Hearing none, she repeated her callout.

"Jonathon are you there? Julius?" Olga said. But it returned with static. She turned to one of the priests next to her. "I need you to relay a message to Jonathon. Tell him to meet us on the Western side and prepare to enter. We're going to make a new door"

"You want me to go alone?" said the priest.

"Yes, If Dracula hasn't bothered with any of us yet a lone soldier has the highest chance of making it there. He likely won't notice you, or won't care if he does" Olga said. "Now go"

The man slid down the rope, falling much faster than it would take to climb back up.

"Clovis, keep an eye out for harpies, and winged beasts as we descend. They'd normally be crawling all over a place like this." Olga said. "The rest of you down with me, we are going to blow a hole right in the side of that tower. It'll lead us into Dracula's Chapel where we can…."

Her voice is suddenly cut off by an explosion at the adjacent tower. Stone flies outward from the walls as Olga and the other priests jump to the floor to avoid shrapnel. A deafening howl pierces the night leaving her petrified in place.

"Adramelech!" cries Clovis.

"Shit!" curses Olga, jumping to her feet. The monster was charging right for the wall. "Climb to the towers now!" Olga yells. She turns back towards the exterior and the hundred soldiers still scaling the wall. "Get down! Retreat! Run!" Olga cries.

A hand grabs at her scarlet tunic. "Now Belnades!" Clovis said. Olga runs to the edge of the walkway but she feels the ground giving out beneath her. She jumps, holding tight to Clovis's hand, and amplifies her leap with magical energy carrying them to the next tower. The walkway behind her crumbles apart. She tries to call out to her troops but loses sight of them behind mists of dust, stone and ash.

"He's ignoring us" Olga said. Adramelech was a powerful demon, standing six stories high and commanding a legion of demonic forces under the Dark Lord. His body was covered in green fur and had a head resembling a cross between a goat and a horse. He was normally locked away deep inside the castle as Dracula feared he might one day rebel against him. But even in chains he was a formidable opponent, released like this…

Olga shot beams of flame from her palms but they bounced harmlessly off the creature's fur. It didn't bother to turn around as it marched eastward with hundreds of skeleton knights rushing behind him. Olga's eyes danced around the grounds, but she couldn't see any trace of human survivors. Up atop the walls there were two groups of people separated from the hole in the wall. Perhaps four dozen priests and twenty from Clovis's squad. "That's it?" Olga said, in horror.

Olga grabbed Clovis's hand once more, and leapt from the tower to meet the Bishop.

"We can't stay separated like this, channel whatever mana you have with me now" Olga said. The mages in the group united and a sheet of ice sizzled beneath their feet, extending out across the broken wall. The soldiers on the other side looked about themselves for a moment before realizing this was their cue to run across.

"Pray for Jonathon and those that stand with him" Olga said. "It's all we can do for him now"

* * *

The air around him froze as the catoblepas exhaled. Julius leapt around its back and cracked its skull in two with his whip. A rock armor pounded into the ground around him as he struggled to regain his footing. He dove between its broad legs, breaking a vial of holy water beneath it.

Julius killed so many beasts he'd long lost count. The onslaught was endless, never had he heard of Dracula pouring so many forces into one room like this. They didn't leave him any chance to breath, let alone coordinate an attack with his troops. He'd lost track of where they were and tried to convince himself that he needed to trust that they were trained them well enough to handle themselves. But that was a lie. Dracula's forces must be trying to sever the head from the rest of the snake.

"Aaaarrrgh" Julius shouted as he released what mana he'd gathered inside his body. The air around him shattered like a vacuum, drawing nearby opponents near before exploding in a violent blue cross, killing all the monsters in his vicinity.

It was the only magical based attack he could summon, most magical affinity in the Belmont bloodline being diluted over generations. It'd take hours before he could use it again, but it bought him the needed time to gather a sense of where he was.

As he gathered the soldiers around him a loud crack suddenly came from the end of the hall.

"No, it's too early" Julius said, as his heart sank and the column behind him exploded.

* * *

Carrie finds herself immobilized by her own magic. She'd never summoned this many crystals and it was sucking away at her mana. Holding the landscape meant she had to stay put and gather what dark energy she could from her surroundings.

She'd claimed Actriss's staff not long after her initial conquest of the castle. Dracula had wanted her to become a vampire, but she refused and tried to abate him by familiarizing herself with the witch's powers. That's when she first learned about soul gems, and the ability to transfer the energy of life into objects. She harvested souls like a reaper to build Dracula's army for this plan. His full strength left him open, vulnerable, and exposed at the center. It seemed so contradictory that no previous vampire hunter had ever tried. Yet here she was, holding the landscape in place with a witch's staff, and armed with a dress covered in enough soul gems to blow up a mountain.

It occurred to her that she could use that power to hold the line now. But the power in those gems wasn't inexhaustible and would be impossible to refill without killing Julius's troops. She could never do that now. Even before she'd needed a curse to help drive her beyond a moral code.

This battle couldn't go on forever. Dracula was trying to strike fear in the soldiers with a seemingly endless wave of reinforcements. But Carrie had been there to build his dark army from the start. He was exhausting himself. His troops didn't go on forever and they'd eliminated a significant chunk of his reserve already. It could be hard to tell with demons, but the casualties were vast on both sides.

The crystal landscape gave the human soldiers a significant advantage. She could hold them up for a little longer.

That's when the doors at the far end of the corridor suddenly flew open, and a tall figure emerged hovering just above the floor.

"No, it can't be" Carrie said. He's never shown himself this early before. To risk his life above others would be selfless. He'd want to stay upstairs and exhaust his army first to minimize the dangers to his life. She took him for a coward, but she was severely mistaken.

Carrie's eyes blinked with their mystic power to confirm, and indeed the foe before her was none other than the Count Dracula, Ruler of Darkness.

The crystals she had been working to maintain all shattered in an instant. With the mere lift of a finger the Count sent magic exploding throughout the room like it were filled with methane. The temperature of the room soared like an oven. His powers echoed about the fortress like an exterminator pointing a poison wand at a horde of cockroaches. He cared not to distinguish between his forces and their own, there was only death. And he would continue until there was nothing left.

The crystals on her dress glowed with power as Carrie surged forward to meet her lifelong foe. The sounds of war dimmed as she ran. Its screams faded into an echo, as though hearing the faint cackling of static at the end of a long tunnel. She thought briefly of Julius, but pushed the distraction from her mind in preparation for her attack.

* * *

Julius looked up from the rubble as the crystals around him burst apart. A slab of stone had slammed into his back, and his lungs struggled to fill with air. Carrie was incredible. She dashed across the room with blinding speed, a trail of blue magic following her every step. A dullahan reached for her, but she spun beneath it and slashed its horse body in two without breaking a step. The creatures around her tumbled into pieces as though being consumed by a raging river.

"Carrie!" Julius cried, his lungs finally responding to his command. The room was burning. Julius broke a vial of holy water against his skin to guard from the heat. The air shimmered with the temperature. It was growing difficult to make her out as she continued towards the vampire. He stepped backward beyond the door, but Carrie showed no sign of halting her approach.

Julius stands, but before he can take a step the door slams shut behind them.

"Carrie!" Julius yelled, but she was long gone. He assumed a combat stance and quickly darted his eyes around him. There weren't any monsters. The magical orange lights around the room grew dim, but room was still cast in a red glow, this time emanating from the windows.

The room, once bare, is covered in bullet shells and the corpses of monsters. The soldiers that remain standing all look upon him, as though waiting for something.

"Alright" Julius said with a hard swallow. "Look for survivors, and do what you can for the wounded"

The soldiers do as he says, but from the condition of the room he can already tell there aren't many left.

"And please" Julius said. "Show respect for the dead"


	6. Awakened Soul

The coffin lid slid off with ease as Alucard sheathed his sword in preparation to descend down the deep chasm hidden just below the coffins base. While much of the mausoleum was covered in dust and cobwebs, the coffin at the front of the room was smooth and decorated. Hiding shortcuts throughout the castle was an old trick of the dark lord although they were often better concealed. The urgency and fear of the count reflected in the very walls of this place.

There was a rush of cold vile air as he leapt down the tunnel. The steel in his boots clicked hard against the stone floor as he landed, a fall that would have killed any mortal man. If his calculations were correct, he should be somewhere in the underground waterway by now. But his destination lay deeper still.

A splash echoed across the walls to his rear. Some sort of aquatic demons no doubt. One was never truly alone inside this castle. Alucard raised a resolute hand and the tunnels blazed with fire. In the brief flash of light he caught a glimpse of hundreds of demonic bodies crawling about in the darkness. Mermaids, lizard men, medusa, specters and likely more he couldn't recognize. He drew his sword and slashed in a long spiral about him, digging deep into the flesh of some creature at his flank. The sounds amidst the dark suddenly grew to a roar and even with his nocturnal vision he could scarcely make out the shapes bouncing around him like a herd of zebras. He swung broadly and dove to the floor. A slobbery hiss roared in his ear left ear as he slide between the bodies. Their shrieks of pain and hunger shook the floor like a train.

"They're attacking themselves" Alucard thought. His demonic aura matched their own, and the dark was so thick not even creatures of the night could see in this madness. They endlessly attacked as their inner programming told them too, yet unable to tell friend from foe. It seemed most of their attacks would never be directed towards him. It was a risky trap for Dracula to place and may have proved fatal had any number of humans fell inside. To Alucard however, this was merely wasting his time. He placed a palm along the floor and broke a vial Olga had given him. A rush of steamy air swept through the halls that picked up far more particles of fishy flesh than his nose cared for, but the ground turned to ice. With a powerful thrust of his hind legs, he swept under the beasts. The air grew momentarily quiet as the monsters realized what had happened and Alucard reached the end of his ice slick. He quickly rose to his feet and shot small burst of flame ahead of him to light the way.

Alucard raced across the lower floors of the waterway with hordes of lizardmen running close behind. The flames he shot ahead lit his way like a strobe light, granting only brief bursts of visibility. Most of Dracula's monsters were mindless, and these were not an exception. This was the third time Alucard had wandered the halls of this reincarnation of the castle and he'd memorized much of the layout. Otherwise he'd have risked running into something at this speed. The area he was looking for shouldn't be too much farther ahead.

As he approached the larger room he fired a gust of demonic blaze at the monsters behind him. They hesitated, giving him just enough time to leap over the watery chasm onto a floating platform. Most adventurers would cling to the ledge with their lives, but he knew what lay in the depths below. Holding his breath, Alucard leapt from the ledge and plunged deep into the darkness. The monsters did not follow.

Alucard fell and fell and fell. His speed accelerated but he could not yet sense a bottom to his plunge. The thought lasted long enough for him to panic. He frantically let bursts of mana escape from his body towards the ground, trying to soften the fall. He took of his cloak and held it up to try and act as a parachute. The fall continued, and his vision faintly returned the longer he did. It felt like falling in reverse, as though accelerating up a wishing well towards the sunny surface.

His feet clanged hard onto the rocky floor and he rolled to absorb more of the fall. Even with his inhuman capabilities, his body ached and his shins felt like they were pricked with needles.

"My, I had not expected to ever see you lose your cool. I'm grateful to have been here to witness it" came a masculine voice.

Alucard slowly rose to his feet and readjusted his cloak. The figure was tall, wearing a red suit and a dark top hat. The man was familiar to him, but not one he was ecstatic to see.

"I'm sure you've deduced by now that this cavern is not a part of Dracula's castle "Alucard said. "Although I didn't expect it to be _this_ deep."

The stony cave ahead lit bright as a beacon. Various crystals, of red, green, blue and violet mottled the floor and walls, their radiance combining to comb the brown earth in a brilliant white light. The path was glossy and smooth, reflecting the colors about the room like an oily mirror. It was almost as though they were standing in the sunlight.

"This isn't a part of the castle? Are you so sure?" Saint Germaine said.

"I am, although it seems to be tied in with the castles cycle of reincarnation. This place was attached later, like a parasite"

"That is quite the enigma. Then you must truly believe what the whispers are saying? That this is, the end of the dark lord's reign?"

"In one sense of the word, perhaps" Alucard said, looking the man straight on, never letting his third eye lose track of his aura. He knew what the "Saint" was capable of. "Your meddling in this will not be necessary"

"Me? Of course not I would never dream of it" said the man in red. He took a step back waved his hands about the air in front of him like a clown. "Naturally I can't reveal the full reasons behind my travels, but it's more a matter of, shall we say bookkeeping."

"For your own sake, I'd hope so" Alucard said. "Many stronger men than you have already died this evening, and the night has just begun"

The man disappeared in a cloud of golden smoke without uttering another word.

Alucard continued walking down the bright corridor. He had been here once before during his initial scouting of the castle, but the caverns have since shifted slightly and the location is much deeper in the ground than before. Could Dracula be attempting to alter the structure of the castle above to prevent this place from having any effect? Or had he simply hoped that the greater fall would kill any unwelcome visitors?

"Your strategies are growing erratic father" Alucard said. "It's different to know what fear is like from this side of things isn't it?"

The crystals were glowing brighter as well. Even without a greater understanding of magecraft he could see the interconnectedness of each node in the system. The entire cavern was constructed like a giant matrix, each crystal acting as a node of information channeling in and between the others. It reminded him of a neural network, almost as if the very room was alive.

The path widened into an enormous opening, like a bubble of air deep beneath the soil. A soothing wind glistened just enough to tickle his cheek. The room was more radiant than he remembered, but the slab of stone lay familiar at the end of the room just as he had last seen it. Broken shards of crystalline still lay scattered around it. This was the chamber where Carrie had hibernated for longer than a century until the day a vampire hunter stumbled upon this spot barely a year ago. This place wasn't just a makeshift time machine however, it was composed from human souls harvested with black draculian magic and transformed through alchemy into a matrix tied into the castles cycle of incarnation. The source of Dracula's immortality. It had become a part of the castle itself, and therefore could never be destroyed so long as the castle stood over it.

Alucard dug into his pockets and grabbed hold of a small rounded object. The talisman glistened gold as he drew it into the light. It was a transcendental object crafted by the Hakuba clan designed to bridge interdimensional barriers. He placed it upon the stone slab and held up a rounded stone with inscriptions carved along its edge.

"For a venerated sorrow, and a beacon of prayer to all lost in the eternal darkness" Alucard said. The stone burst into flames, and the broken crystals about the floor shook and writhed about. He turned and departed from the chamber as the pieces flew and reassembled the hibernation complex, keeping the talisman permanently in place. Now the castle would forever hold ties to the Hakuba shrine over Japan, the rest would be up to them.

Alucard had a long climb waiting for him.

* * *

"CLEAR!" Olga shouted as the walls blasted apart. Her ears rang with a high pitched squeal that made the air seem silent as they returned to normal. The sun had just begun to show through a sliver over the horizon, and the cold stone glistened with morning dew. Over the castle, the faint cries of battle could be heard as Jonathon and the main forces struggled against that monster. But it wasn't the shrieks of death, or the corpses now visible among the courtyard, or the explosion in front of her that halted her breath. It was the realization that from this angle, between towers shooting into the clouds, she could see the stairway leading into Dracula's chamber. There it was. The sight of it terrified her. She fought against the aching of her bones to tremble before it.

"Ma'am? Are we ready to engage?" came a sudden voice. Olga shook her head out of the daze. They were still on along the walls just outside of the castle tower. A new doorway was now open, beckoning them inside. She was unsure whether to expect a welcome, or if the remaining forces had all followed Adramelech outside. A hand grabbed her shoulder as she started to walk forward. "Are you sure it's safe?" came the soldiers voice. Olga brushed the hand aside and walked into the center of the rumble, kicking a loose brick off the edge as she entered. The troops must have thought her insane for walking in so casually, but in reality she was just glad to get out of sight of _that thing._

"It's empty" Olga said.

The troops followed her inside, and swept across the ledges within the area. It was an open room, filled with stairs and elevators and ledges. Candles illuminated the dark windowless arena, even as sunlight began to flood the opening they had made.

Olga walked to the edge and looked down. The tower continued as far as the eye could see. It looked almost fake, with the walls curving towards the center of her vision like a painting. Not because they actually narrowed, but because of the sheer depth of the tunnel.

"It's like an elevator" Olga said. "This must have been how Dracula managed to assemble such an army of forces to one location. He channeled them up from the deep."

"If that's the case then we can expect more company soon" Clovis said.

"Not necessarily" Olga said. "This place is Dracula's Chapel, it's designed as a mockery of the word, but it doesn't have to stay that way." She looked carefully at the small alters scattered throughout the room. The closest was against the wall ten meters or so to her right. Candles lined up and down the table. A dark painting hung along the wall with mixtures of reds and oranges curling around within. At the center of the alter sat a statue of a horned man, standing straight and bare chested with an infant squished beneath its feet.

"The principle may be different, but the design is almost the same" Olga said. She turned to the Bishop and asked "Would it be possible to transform sections of this tower into real blessed areas and keep them free of monsters?"

The idea could serve dual purposes. It would limit the transportation of monsters within the tower, and serve as a safe space for adventurers to rest.

As the priests scattered to go about their work, Olga had Clovis set up a perimeter to keep watch. She pulled a suitcase from the supply pack and clicked it open. The device inside was heavy, with a numerical button pad and a chorded phone. Naturally, the phone calls it made were encrypted.

"Heya Motoko" Olga said to the user on the other end of the line.

"Hello Olga" said Motoko, the current shrine maiden at Hakuba shrine. "The connection has been made. You friend must be quite resourceful to have made it through this quickly."

"Glad to hear it. But actually, we've fallen behind schedule. We are mere hours away from totality and still have a long way to go. Just be ready for us when it happens. Don't wait for a call. Assume everything is in position."

"Understood Ma'am"

"Thank you sweetheart, and God bless" Olga said, and hung up the phone. "We are going to need it."

* * *

The blast of green magic tore through the dissolving image of Count Dracula before exploding into the wall.

"WHERE ARE YOU COWARD!?" Carrie screamed. But she was met with silence. The sounds of battle grew still the moment the door closed behind her. All she could hear was the thumping of her chest and the loud high pitched whine of her glowing hands.

She took to her left and started running through the empty halls. The sky beyond the glass windows was beginning to light up with the rising sun. Years ago she remembered these windows vibrating with peeking eyes, and zombies rushing at her from the floor. "Argh" Carrie yelled as she flung her hands towards the empty window. The glass shattered and a breeze rushed to fill the room with cold morning air. She was alone.

"Oh no" Carrie said. She fell with her back against the wall and sat upon the floor. "They just wanted to get me away from Julius" She realized it now. It had all been a trap, a simple one. One she should have known better then to rush into.

Now wasn't the time for remorse. She could take on the dark lord alone if she had to. She had that kind of strength. Yet still, her heart ached. "It's stupid, everything here is stupid" Carrie said, realizing at the sound of her own words how childish she must have sounded. She wasn't like this the first time she toured the castle. She had been stoic, resolute, and strong. Imperfect, but successful.

The path to defeat Dracula had always been one to be walked alone. To find love here was to be filled with sorrow and loss. Nothing but death and bad news ever came to be within these walls. Her thoughts drifted back to that foolish man she had once traveled with. He saved her life once, but ultimately fell victim when he fell in love with a vampire. Anyone could have guessed how that would have ended. This wasn't a fairy tale, there was no magical end all called love that would grant characters invincible plot armor. Reinhardt and Rosa. Vampire and Vampire killer. What a joke.

Anger stirred in her, and she was introspective enough to notice. Julius was different than that young fool. He was stronger, and wiser, capable of handling his own against true ancestral vampires. She felt safe around him, even more so than she did that day Reinhardt saved her.

" _But what of the trap that was laid for you here? You may need the assistance of a witch like myself in the future." Carrie had said during her first embark within the castle at 12 years old._

" _That may be, but Dracula could just as likely employ a tactic where my whip could be used to bring your downfall. Such an alliance is not a wise idea. We are not compatible me and you." Reinhardt said, quietly taking a sip from his flask. "And besides, joining forces shouldn't matter from this point on. The creatures within this castle, to them this is home. They move about these halls without difficultly, without thinking. For a creature to truly match the powers of Dracula within his own residence, moving about should be as simple as breathing. If you cannot even go about wandering this place like you would a house, you shouldn't even think about facing the Dark Lord."_

 _*Hmph*, Carrie sighed as she stood. "Walking through this castle? That's nothin'! You'll regret this one day Belmont, when you climb the ultimate staircase to find Dracula's corpse waiting for you." Carrie turned and began walking up one of the nearby stairways. "If I'm merciful enough to leave you even that" She could remember the sounds of Reinhardt's laughter echoed off the walls behind her as she left. That was the last she ever saw of him alive._

Carrie sighed and got back on her feet. "Some things never change, but a lot has" she said. That line he had said to her at the end, was she really remembering it correctly? Its foreshadowing seemed uncanny.

"Moving about should be as simple as breathing" Carrie said, taking a deep breath. "It's certainly easier to do when the halls are as empty as this"

She walked along the next corridor and realized she recognized something. The castle changed during every reincarnation, but some structures and the ultimate layout remained the same each time. The area before her lay out in a long hallway filled with doors on each side. Many of them were fake, and she knew from experience that a few would also attack were she to glance the handle. The third door on her left however, had a small strip of pink ribbon glued along its edge. Dracula had always hated that. She had wanted to color the entire door and fought with him for weeks about it, but in the end that was the most she could get. "Inside however" Carrie thought as she opened the door.

The inside of the door was painted elegantly with twists of pink and green. She'd carved small doodles into the door and along the walls. Many based on memories of her stepmother, but others were just silly drawings. "I wonder if it's still here" Carrie thought.

Her bed was covered in dust, but still decorated in emerald linen with a sheer like curtain draping overhead. She brushed a cobweb aside as she lifted the mattress and uttered a reverse spell of concealment onto the wood. The panel gave way, and a small suitcase popped into place, falling under the bed.

The chest popped open, and papers immediately fell out from the sides. That annoyed her a bit. The papers were still legible, but wouldn't contain anything of relevance. She never kept record of anything she'd be afraid of Dracula finding. Underneath the papers folded neatly was a green tunic, the one she had returned with after traveling overseas. She was much smaller then.

"Aha" she exclaimed. She reached into the chest and pulled out the blue soul gems. Then reaching into her own pouch at her side she grasped the metal top of Actriss's staff and pulled it from the special compression magic that allowed it to be stored there. The staff was a little past shoulder height when she stood. It shaft was golden and it ended in a half crescent moonlike shape with a blue soul gem nestled between two spikes where it connected to the rest. The gems in her hand glowed a little brighter as she held the staff. They were originally a part of the same structure, but their use was only compatible with the witch herself. Carrie had taken them apart and added new gems to claim the weapon as her own. She'd come a long way in understanding her abilities since then though, as she'd done so without any knowledge of how to realign magical properties. Her true gift.

The witch Actriss had used the soul gems to store the spirits of a hundred children in order to create her powers. Carrie had acquired it after tracking down and killing the witch during her early life with Dracula. Actriss had escaped during her initial ascension of the castle, and killing her helped to solidify her place at Dracula's side and build his trust. It was analyzing the staff's properties in this room that first gave her the idea of a soul matrix, intertwining the fates of thousands with those of the dark lord. She marched with Dracula's forces and slaughtered thousands in order to collect souls for her project hidden deep beneath the castle. Countless innocent souls murdered for her naive conception of a "greater good". Hopefully it would all payoff one day.

Carrie laughed as she realized "when" she was. It wouldn't be much longer.

But the pain of her crimes against humanity was indeed too much for her to bear at the time. She'd worked with Elof to develop a pseudo personality called Collar2 which took over for her in times of dark stress. That personality was destroyed long ago however. She'd done so shortly before marching to defeat Dracula a second time and sealing herself inside her chamber deep underground.

She noticed a shiny object inside the chest as well. More soul gems? She didn't remember storing extra ones there. They held tremendous magical potential and it wasn't unlike her to hide objects like that throughout the castle where she may later find them. But she could remember distinctly deciding against that idea, in fear that Dracula would find everything anyway and use them against her.

She reached down and picked up one of the shiny blue crystals. It was indeed filled with soul energy. She opened the pouch on her side and set the gems there alongside the Necronomicon.

A shiver suddenly swept along her body. She looked up to find the dark lord himself, standing at the door to her chamber.

"You know I always hated it when you did that. What's even the point of having a door if you phase though it all the time?" Carrie said. She closed her pouch and let the rings along her hands slowly build up with magical energy.

"I never owed you any such curtesy then, and I certainly wouldn't now" Dracula said. "You should be grateful I kept this room looking the way it was to begin with. It wasn't without its purposes however"

"Ha! You think I'd come to a place such as this expecting anything but a trap? Don't make me laugh Dracula. I've defeated you twice. I can do it again"

"I'd look forward to another dance with you child, but unfortunately I won't be your opponent today. You're different from before, I could tell just from the way you looked at him. And emotions such as those have a habit for lowering ones guard."

Carrie felt a growing heat rising from her stomach. She leapt back, realizing the heat was coming from her belt and not her insides, she ripped the belt in two with a slash from her weaponized rings. The floor burst into bright blue flame as the holy water inside exploded.

"What did you do?" Carrie said.

"My dear child. You really think I didn't realize what you'd been hiding all these years? Under the mattress was one of the first places I looked." Dracula said with a cruel laugh.

"I'll kill you!" Carrie yelled. She picked up Actriss's staff and the space around the doorway burst apart into iridescent crystals. As they exploded into shards she sent the pieces tearing apart in every direction like bullets. "You can't hide from me! I'll kill anyone who stands in my way. Nothing can stop me."

"I'm counting on it" came a voice as the room exploded.

* * *

"Fire again" Julius commanded. The archers and mages shoot concoctions of explosives and magic at the door without any noticeable effect.

"It's no use sir, we'd be better off going around, we could maybe try opening a new route by blowing open the east wall and…" said Astrid, one of his leading officers.

"It won't matter if we go around. If she dies so will our plan of killing the dark lord" Julius said.

"Only until his next reincarnation, sir" Astrid said. She was right of course, but hearing her say it pissed him off.

"No, we're getting in that room. Have the squad blow into the adjacent wall and try to enter through the East wing. We'll rendezvous with Jonathon's forces there as well" Julius said. "I don't care if we have to blow this castle apart brick by brick. We'll bomb the whole thing to hell if we need to"

He knew that Dracula would easily resist such mundane weapons, but it wasn't outside his resources to do so. It'd make him feel better at least. He grasped at the radio and set it to Jonathon's channel.

"Jonathon what's your status. Carrie's gone missing we need you over here" Julius said. He didn't care if he told prying ears where he was. He didn't care if he was altering the plans or centralizing the forces. Carrie was in trouble and he needed to get in there.

"Jonathon do you read me!" Julius said, but the radio returned static. An explosion sounded from his right, and he could see the soldiers clearing away the remaining rumble and the sound of gunfire as they cleared the hallway inside. He didn't move.

"We might not win this" Julius said.

"Sir?" Astrid said. He had forgotten she was there.

"If we can't get in there, we'll need to head straight to the top of the tower and defeat Dracula as is" Julius said. He was stating the obvious, which hadn't been like him. It was like he was an adolescent all over again, playing with a toy whip.

Julius marched back to the front of the team. The hallway was moderately filled with demons and peeking eyes, but it was nothing compared to the carnage they'd seen before. Julius hoped for a moment that it was because Dracula had exhausted most of his forces in that single battle, but knew he couldn't count on it.

Suddenly the wall alongside them exploded and a burst of emerald flame gushed out from the cracks. The blast engulfed their team as mages rushed to produce a shield from the demonic flame, too slow to save the dozens who caught the blunt of the attack. Julius rushed to the center and threw holy water into the rubble. He expected a rush of monsters to run forth, but all he could make out amidst the green flame was the faint feminine outline of a woman and the glisten of the golden staff in her hand.


End file.
